


Undercover

by DownToTheSea



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Domesticity, Dysfunctional Relationships, Fluff and Angst, Missing Scene, Other, Truth disguised as lies disguised as truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25678927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DownToTheSea/pseuds/DownToTheSea
Summary: The Doctor and O have a chat in the TARDIS wardrobe.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	Undercover

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Spyfall Part 1. I discovered this sitting almost fully finished in the depths of my drive and figured I should finally post it, haha. Enjoy!

"TA-DA!" The Doctor flung herself out of one of the TARDIS's changing rooms and into the hall, posing like a musical performer hitting her final big note. Sadly, the effect fell flat as no one else was out yet. Multiple voices wailed things along the lines of "How are you done already?!"

"You'd be surprised how quick you get after thousands of years of black-tie occasions," she muttered, meandering out of that hall and into the next one, which housed the gigantic wardrobe. Luckily, formalwear wasn't buried too deep: she hadn't had to go digging through the city-block-long French Revolution section or the collection of antennae decorations she'd picked up in the Silfrax galaxy. (Never knew when she might have a guest in insect form onboard, after all!)

O was also dressed already, fiddling with his collar and flipping through a long rack of bow-ties. She went over to him.

"Ooh, love a bow tie! Think I'll join you." She took up a position on the other side of the rack and started skimming through the options. Question mark pattern? Nah. "Been ages since I was really into them. Wonder if I still am?"

"You change that much with the face?" He discarded a purple bow tie. Shame. She would have said purple was his color.

"Sometimes. I used to wear celery. Can you imagine?"

He laughed. "Well, for what it's worth, I like your new face."

"Thanks!" The Doctor grinned. "I regenerated it myself!"

The Doctor, of course, saw beauty in all things: people, nebulas, enormous monsters trying to kill her. But the way he was smiling at her right now, well… That was a real corker of a smile. (Oh,  _ corker,  _ really? And she'd been doing so well with the updated slang!)

His expression changed; strain crept in around the eyes, and his smile flickered like a broken light bulb.

"Something wrong there mate?" she asked.

He looked down. "I guess I envy you, Doctor. No matter what I change about myself, it's never been enough… to make people see me any differently. To go back to how I want things to be.”

She'd found a tie that suited her and begun fastening it, but her hands stilled. "If there's one thing I've learned, and believe me it took a while, it's that you can't outrun who you've become. Even the bits you don't like." Her eyes fell. "You've got to stand and face it. Someday."

"Have you faced what you really are, Doctor?" he asked, eager and almost raw.

She shook her head slowly, glancing back at the hallway from which her friends had yet to emerge.

"Not sure I have," she said. "Not sure I want to."

"But didn't you just say it was impossible to avoid?"

She was silent for a moment, then looked back up at him with a grin. "I'm the Doctor. I do six impossible things every day before breakfast. Not that there is such a thing as breakfast in space, ‘cause there’s no mornings in space. But that just means I can have breakfast any time I want, doesn't it? Space breakfast!"

"What's that about breakfast?" Graham asked as he came into the room straightening his cuffs.

_ "Space  _ breakfast, Graham. Are you ready?"

"Think so. You look slick, Doc."

She flashed a grin. "I do, don't I?"

Whatever mood had gripped them both had lifted; O was laughing again as he came around to stand beside her. "You do," he said, "but I could see from there that your tie's a bit crooked." He reached out and then paused, hand hovering in the space between them. "If I may?"

"Oh, sure. Hey, that's your name! Not your real name, though. Your _spy_ name," she said with relish.

He tugged her bow-tie straight and winked at her. "Yeah. Someday soon I'll tell you my real name."

"I look forward to it."

Ryan and Yaz had come into the room, and all three were watching them. And all of them were openly gaping.

Alright, so the last version of her hadn't liked flirting at  _ all  _ and she was still getting back into it, but they didn't have to stare quite that hard! She wasn't  _ that  _ bad at it now. Hopefully.

She lowered her voice. "What we were talking about earlier… You know, the regeneration stuff. You'll keep that to yourself, yeah?"

"Of course. Your secrets are safe with me, Doctor."

"And whatever it is that you're trying to outrun…” She beamed at him. "I think you're brilliant."

His expression wobbled. She caught flashes of shock, satisfaction, and an oddly vulnerable look before he glanced away. He wasn't going to cry, was he? She wasn't super good with crying humans. Good thing her fam was here: they tended to be better at handling those sorts of things. But thankfully he composed himself. Mostly: his hands were shaking.

He caught her looking at them and gave her a quick, almost hollow smile. "Just nervous."

"I should think so. For all we know, we could be horribly killed in less than an hour!"

"Great pep talk!" called Yaz.

O smoothed her bow-tie before stepping away. "I'm not worried. You always look after your companions, don't you, Doctor?"

A cold knife slid into her hearts. Clearly, he hadn't done enough research on that particular aspect of her history. Her smile faltered. "I'll keep you all safe," she promised, willing herself to stand behind the words as she so often hadn’t before.

She offered her arm to O. "Now come on. We've got undercover work to do."


End file.
